Beauty Secrets We Learned From Jo Baker

As far as we know, there's almost no such thing as effortless beauty. From facial treatments that leave your complexion dewy and luminous to the perfect winged eyeliner, experts reveal their most-trusted, insider hacks for CR's series,Beauty Secrets.

As a teen, Jo Baker's fascination with psychology and human behavior along with her captivation with fashion editorials brought her to "the first stage of taking art to the face," the makeup artist tells CR. Since then, the expressive nature of beauty and examining what's behind it has driven Baker throughout her career. In her work, she often experiments with bold, artistic eye looks inspired by everything from the shading of Renaissance paintings to the matte tones of shoveled earth. Baker is responsible for many of Lucy Boynton's stunning beauty moments–including her Oscars transformation from a classic red lip at the awards to lavender disco eyes for the afterparty–as well as those of starlets like Diana Silvers, Maude Apatow, and more.

Here, Baker gives a peek into her creative process and shares her tips for creating show-stopping lashes.

JEAN-BAPTISTE LACROIX

In addition to the makeup itself, inspiration behind the looks is a big part of what you share on social media. How do you think this adds to the impact of your work?"I wanted to let people in on how my brain works with the art and the process because just looking at a person with red lipstick on is not enough. I thought it would be really great if I could show people that there's more to the choices I'm making than just, will it look good? It's telling a story or creating a persona or alter-ego or taking someone on a fantasy journey. I was always always doing that, but it was always happening in my head. I had to show what I go through to get to that choice of texture, tone, how we look at life, because it's the psychology behind the things you see that get you inspired. Everything you see may not be beautiful, but everything can be made beautiful."

Amy Sussman

Sharing the background adds another layer to the visual storytelling of makeup."Totally. I also wanted to intellectualize what [makeup artists] are doing. In the past few years it's been so drilled down all our throats to contour this, perfect this and I felt like it was a really negative image to constantly be talking about. It became kind of bananas. But now everyone being different is amazing. If you've got a gap in your teeth, if you've got a wonky nose, if you've got weird freckles, all of sudden we've evolved enough to see those things as unique and beautiful, which is such a fucking relief. ‘Cause everyone is so amazingly different. It's nice to think that instead of hiding it and perfecting it, and making yourself look nothing like yourself, how about we make you look absolutely like yourself, but let's learn balance of the face or how to draw attention to the areas you love about yourself. I'm trying to do this positive way of doing makeup, where it's enhancing people's physical features, but yet making something interesting, cool, and art-inspired also."

Instagram/@maudeapatow

Do you have a recent favorite look?"I love what I did on Lucy Boynton in Paris for the Chloé event. It's fun because these looks happen fairly quickly and are not pre-planned. There was this amazing sketch Natacha [Ramsay-Levi] had created for the new collection, and she let Lucy wear this dress that evening straight off the runway. It had this amazing portraiture all over the dress, and then a yellowy, amber color on the collar. I wanted to create a primary tone element, because with the white, black, and amber [of the dress] red and blue would go really well. I just grabbed the paints and the colors, and I was like, Lucy, I've got an idea. [The look] brought more attention to the design of the dress than it did taking anything away, and I like honoring the fashion just as much as I do my clients."

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Bold, separated lashes are prominent part of a lot of your makeup looks. Why have you honed in on that feature?"It's a modern way of doing lashes, where it doesn't just have to look pretty, sweet, and refined. I feel like there's a certain attitude that comes with the lashes that I do, which transcends through all my clients’ personalities: I'm strong, I'm confident, I'm bold, I'm a little edgy, don't mess with me. It doesn't matter how pretty the eyeshadow can be or how sweet the colors may be or even with glitter, I like the fact the lashes become the element that is modern and edgy and no-nonsense."

Steve Granitz

What are your tips and techniques to achieving those lashes?"I like to start with really dry and clean lashes, with no product or residue, nothing on them. I always curl the lashes really well, but not so much where they bend and get a kink in them. Sometimes I use a mascara primer–Chanel has one that I like. And I use Le Volume by Chanel, which is a killer mascara for getting a really heavy, voluminous, chunky mascara look. You put on the first coat, let it dry for like twenty seconds, go back in for another coat, wait for it to dry another bit, and I probably do three rounds of mascara. Every time you allow the mascara to dry it’s got this texture to stick upon, so it starts layering in a way that back in the day would be unattractive and clumpy, but now it's very much the spidery the better. It just makes the lashes look thicker and more spaced out, and it just makes everyone's eyes look huge."

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What are some of your favorite products?"I love the Koh Gen Do foundation in the red tubes. They’re amazing at giving skin a waxy, doll-like finish. It feels like more of a pro-product than a consumer product, but the formula is so incredible. I'm a huge fan of Weleda. I love their Cleansing Milk because it's got a witch hazel element to it, so I've been using it as a makeup prep step. I love Anastasia [Beverly Hills] Brow Gel, the clear one. It's brilliant and nothing moves. Also, the Deepness lipstick by Chanel. It's the perfect modern nude. It looks like a black lipstick but when you put a swatch on your hand it's like one percent grey-purple mixed with lip balm, so you get this incredibly cool nude because it softens the natural pink in your lips. And I’m obsessed with Lisa Eldridge's lipsticks–obsessed! There's one I wear called Velvet Morning, and it's become my staple look."

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